Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I have a 100 series cruiser (solid axel)

One of the rubber bushes on my Koni shocks has flogged out

I talked to Pedders i they are trying to get me to buy some urethane bushes, they seam to stiff to me with no give.

what do u fellas reckon

The less give the better I say.. the shock should stay put!

The rubber has flogged out for a reason.. so the urethane may last longer

The reason you need give, it seems to me, is that the shock changes angle slightly as the axle moves up and down. So I think there's a definite limit to the whole "the less give the better" concept - if the bush is too rigid, then you are going to have some metal trying to flex when it's not designed to.

This doesn't answer your question though I guess, I don't know if urethane seems really stiff to the human hand but actually flexes enough when it's part of the suspension of a very heavy vehicle. They still ship all new shocks with rubber though, don't they?

I'm pretty sure most shocks come with rubber bushes...(The eye mount ones anyway).. Urethane is normally used by people to upgrade the buhses - Eg better handling etc

I just found this also...

The most common mistake that people make when fitting and using urethane bushes is that they are compared to rubber bushes.
Polyurethane works in a completely different manner to rubber bushes, in that urethane slides on the surfaces of the pin/shackle and therefore requires the surfaces to be clean and smooth, and well lubricated.

I definitely see scope for using urethane to upgrade bushes in other areas. I'm not convinced it's a great mod for shock mounts though. My mind is open on this one, personally; I find it hard to believe that rubber shock bushes are actually having any effect on handling though, I gotta say. Shocks do one thing: they stop the spring from re-bouncing. They don't actually hold the wheels in any particular position the way other suspension components do.

Good point there Chimpboy... Not like a swaybar bush or similar, that resists against the suspension components